Messy House Tour 2014

Since you guys have enjoyed the past messy house tour videos that we’ve shared (like this one from our last house in 2011), we seized the opportunity to remind everyone that we’re not all carefully folded towels and meticulously placed pillows 24/7 (not even close). With our attention focused mostly on the showhouse & some last minute nursery updates, many of our other house projects have been put on hold (some are literally halfway done) and a handful of rooms have quickly devolved into chaos. And when your house is a mess, why not video tape it for the whole internet to see?

A few notes:

There is no rapping in this video. I am both relieved and somewhat disappointed.

I hate narrating these things and usually just hold the camera (I have steadier hands) while Sherry talks, but she was doing showhouse stuff so I put on my big boy pants and went for it.

Burger is all over this thing like a helicopter in a P.Diddy video.

Don’t worry about the droopy figs in the office. They bounce right back after getting some water… although they do seem to be suspiciously thirsty.

If there truly were a wedding between a sabre toothed tiger and a pony, I would have given anything to attend it as a child (I was a huge fan of any type of tiger, and checked out a library book about tigers every week for two years straight in elementary school)

Look at those gleaming hardwood floors after the climb to the second floor. They make my chest swell with pride.

For everyone asking what’s on the fourth wall of the nursery, you catch a quick glimpse of it in the video (it’s just a floor lamp and the doorway to the hall for now, but we might add a “wall of fun” like we did in Clara’s room eventually)

There’s some rarely seen footage of the unfinished storage room at the end of the upstairs hallway (and – surprise! – that’s a mess too)

I edited the end of the video to cut off myself shouting “keeping it real” because something possessed me to yell that out and the end of the video like a Backstreet Boy circa 1995 and I couldn’t not let it see the light of day. You understand, right?

In case you can’t watch the video at work (it would still pretty much tell the story sans sound), here’s a quick tour-via-screengrab of some of the highlights.

If everything stays on schedule, we should have a few days between our big Homearama deadline and our baby arrival date when we can hopefully wrap up a couple of projects and return things to some semblance of order. You know, right before Barnacle comes along and throws us all out of whack again…

Does anyone else have any messes to fess up to? Is there some half-finished project that’s causing a ripple effect into other rooms around it? We can’t be the only ones.

Psst – Showhouse deadlines have kept us even crazier than expected this week, so we’re not going to have a post for you tomorrow, but we hope to be back at it again on Monday.

I love the Burger bombs! I’m glad to see your house is a little unkempt, makes me feel better. HA!

Everything needs a little tidying right now in our home but the worst is the office. It’s like when JoBeth Williams opened the door to Carol Anne’s room and all the floating stuff screamed at her and she slammed the door closed. That’s me.

This is awesome! Nice to know I’m not the only one who doesn’t live in a showhouse!! And yes, there is always at least one room around here that has a half-finished (or less) project and a handful of rooms that result in relocation clutter!

I saw a cute little sign the other day I’m thinking about getting for our ledge in the entry — excuse the mess, but we live here :)

Oh man I am in a similar messy house state! MY husband has been gone for 3 weeks (coming home TODAY!) and the laundry situation is outta control. Somehow I went from having perfect control to doing 10 loads (sheets, towels, regular load, bleach load, hot load). How does that happen?

Our storage space looks almost identical to your storage space! We even have the double stacked white lampshades goin’ on, with tons of framed art everywhere…because why hang it when nearly your entire house needs to be painted still?? We are renovating our 1950 all brick ranch. So far, we’re about 75% done with our kitchen, 50% done with our dining room, and 75% done with our entry way. The 4 bedrooms, office, craft room, 2 baths, and hallway still have a LOOOOONG way to go.

Slightly OT question — when Clara was born, you guys had stockpiled a lot of “secret” posts so that the blog could continue running during those crazy newborn days. Are you planning the same thing for the Barnacle’s arrival? Or are you going to give yourselves a (much-deserved) break?

You’ve had so many great posts over the years that you really should re-post a few old favorites (the best of YHL) while you’re adjusting to life with TWO kids:) Best of luck with the show house and with delivery! You’re in the home stretch!

I need to sneakily watch this at work somehow. I love house tours! My house feels like its in a constant state of disarray with all the simultaneous projects. This working full time on top of diy & blogging is for the birds!!

This is awesome – the fact that you guys are so open and honest coupled with the endless adorableness… no wonder you are so popular! Thank you all for all that you do – you are an inspiration, composed AND cluttered!

You’re so brave showing everyone your mess, I’m not sure I could do that. It’s great to see that I’m not the only one living with chaos – I’m planning a kitchen refurb (inspired by what you did in your second house) but I sometimes wonder if what it really needs is just a good tidy up!

Is it bad that I love posts like these?
Our house is always messy. It’s very small and there are still three adults living there full time. The fourth is back from college this month and the fifth drops by about twice a week. There’s always a lot going on here.
After living with only my husband in a very bare rented (vacation) apartment for two months it feels messier than ever. As soon as I recover from my jetlag, I’m going to declutter my little heart out ;-)

Thanks for keeping it real John —I missed the last messy house tour and this just made me think ‘wow! they are real peeps with real messes!’ Sometimes looking at all the pretty tidy rooms on blogs makes me fee like a complete slob–and now I just feel normal! PS–Clara rocks, best play wedding EVER.
-V

hahaha funny that this is the post of the day. To answer your question, YES. My house is totally upside down because the entire upstairs and the living room/dining room are under construction/to be painted with a paint sprayer soon. I actually have an Ektorp chaise from Ikea (still in the box of course…) with three light fixtures still in the boxes in the middle of my kitchen. Also, I have a unusually large number of empty five gallon buckets around the kitchen. I also have an extra chair in my den that is trying to blend in despite being a completely different color scheme. I’m sure there are other messes I’m thinking of too, but I think my brain is subconsciously blocking them out because I can’t handle it. ;)

You are not alone my friend. We moved in October and just this week allowed the first floor of our house to (finally) become box-free. We were lucky enough to buy a house with both a living and family room space. We only had furniture for one so the family room was our “box staging area.” Sure, we unpacked some of those boxes from the staging area but mostly, we moved them upstairs into the rooms that they really belonged in. Baby steps…

We have a raised ranch, the first floor flooded (too much snow melted too fast + a clogged street drain = disaster in our house). So we had to rip out four rooms of wall to wall carpet and pad. Smells bad, it’s noisy and it’s just a mess. Now to figure out what to do with the floors when your homeowners insurance is useless. This being typed by a woman who isn’t fond of chaos.

As a mom of four who sits on the other side of toddlerhood, these pictures are such a welcome sight! Our youngest is 12 and I’m just beginning to think of new projects around our house. It is so nice to know that chaos reigns in your house on some days, too! Best wishes in the coming weeks and know that we are all hoping you put baby and your family first and let the blog-baby entertain itself for a bit! I’ve bought tickets to homearama, btw!!

I feel ya. My home needs straightening up too. It drives me insane. I really should clean it. I just started a blog so that has kept me busy. Who knew blogs consume all of your thoughts and time. Have a good weekend!

I feel you! But I hate to tell you…after baby #2, it feels like the home is always is disarray. Constant tea parties, underpants, and drawing extravaganzas everywhere. It’s worth it. But let’s just say we don’t have people over nearly as much. And laundry never stops. Which I, personally, hate. I need myself a wife! But, having two kids and watching them fawn over each other and play together is amazing. Can’t wait to see you guys enjoy it! Hope to see you at the Showhouse!

I feel this way with just one. Her imagination is so big and the mess see s to follow.

I’ve recently made a resolution to invite people over whatever the state of the house AND to resist the ever present urge to apologize for the mess. People are important, housekeeping isn’t. Right? Right. And, honestly it’s just a-family-lives-here mess, not a health hazard.

Where did you get the pillows that are piled on the right side of the screen in the guest room with the yellow rosettes on them? That’s exactly what I’ve been looking to buy for my living room and can’t find anywhere! :-)

This is amazing comforting to me right now. We’re having our kitchen and dining room remodeled, and are currently laying down new hardwood throughout the first floor, so the entire house is CHAOS. My first baby is due a few weeks after yours, and this makes me feel so much better about the current state of things!

“I get more cleaning done in the 10 minutes before someone comes over than I do in a week”

:)

In our house, we always prioritize family time to cleaning. We don’t live in a pig pen, we have a nice house and it’s usually somewhat in order. But if it comes down to folding laundry or playing a game of frisbee/reading a book together/playing scrabble, the latter wins 100% of the time. Life is too short to spend it wiping down the counters 10 times a day. Good for you for showing your normal-ness!

I know this means I’m spending too much time on Facebook, but I had to “like” this.

Though, sometimes on Sunday nights, the family will throw on a movie and fold laundry simultaneously. And getting Sheldon’s shirt folder from “Big Bang Theory” has the kids fighting over folding their stuff. But still life > laundry.

A lot of that random stuff used to be in the nursery but it got shifted in there when we started that room. Needs to get cleaned out (aka: put in the storage room, craigslisted, clothes put in nursery drawers, etc). We have less than two weeks to get on that because my mom is coming for the bun’s birth!

Oh man, my mom is so funny she tries to get up at night and I’m like “sleep momma, I’m the one with the food supply.” Haha! She’s going to be awesome for playing with Clara I think, with a lot of baby snuggles going in too…

My mom was seriously the GREATEST when my second was born in October. Did all the cooking and cleaning for an entire week and played with my older daughter. She had me wondering “Why do I live with this man who has to leave ALL of his shoes by the back door when I could be living with you, mom?!”

Sherry, your comment about your Mom playing with Clara after the baby comes is priceless!! When people came to visit after I had Jasper the best thing they could do for me what play with Grace (3 yrs old at the time). You obviously make it very clear to Clara that you love her like crazy, but getting that extra attention from Nonna after the baby is key. Good luck adjusting to a family of 4!! I’m so excited for you guys.

PS….Thanks for keeping it real with the mess. I’m right there with you. We came home from vacation last week (First trip to Disney with the kids!) and I still have laundry to do and suitcases to finish unpacking. Ugh. The mess is so hard to keep under control.

OMG Thank you!!! I’ve been feeling awful because, with a full time job and a side business, my house is always messy and I feel like I can’t keep up! I keep wondering “how does everyone else do it??”. So thank you for making me feel normal!! haha

We will miss you tomorrow! Good luck with getting all the loose ends tied up with the showhouse. And thanks for keeping it real (as always) with these videos. You guys 100% deserve all this success.
Aaaand for whenever Barnacle decides to pop out (saying this now in case it happens before Monday), I hope all goes well and that Momma and Baby are safe and sound!

You must be so excited that you will be meeting Barnacle Bun very soon! I am excited for all of you and can’t wait to see him! If this is not too personal, do you have an actual due date (aside from the scheduled c-section date?)? Yesterday, I thought you said 2 weeks from now? So, April 16? How are you feeling overall? Are you into that homestretch where everything just feels surreal and all this waiting will be over? Much love, Gina.

Thank you for this video! Our house looks pretty similar at the moment, although the guest room is the tidiest, as we had people staying the last week. After moving in August last year, two rooms in our house are still full of boxes, and items with no fixed home. #KeepingItReal

Every blogger (the ones I like at least) always makes a point to say “this styled room is not my regular life, I make messes just like you!” but MAN, it still feels good to see it for real. We bought a house around the same time as you, similar size, and I feel like a real jerk for having half painted walls and piles of decorative stuff just hanging out in the rooms they should be decorating. Thanks for helping me feel like less of a jerk…or a successful jerk, I guess?

Yep. I gotta big old mess at my house. Full kitchen gut/reno with hardwoods going down the foyer. Everything from kitchen, dining room, and foyer is now in the living room and family room. With some stuff in the basement. And my husband’s half of the garage looks like a mini landfill. Keep on keeping on.

John your narration was great! At one point in the upstairs hallway you can hear Burger’s nails click-clacking on the hardwood. Have you noticed any scratches on the hardwood? That would be my fear of dark coloured floors.

I haven’t been able to watch the video yet, but based on the screengrabs, let me just say thank you!! We’re in the process of clearing out our former office to turn it into our daughter’s Big Girl Room, and passing her nursery on to her brother, due in early June. But the trickle-down chaos it causes in other rooms, as we try to re-home or collect for donations or otherwise temporarily house the stuff from the office is immense. I’m happy to see we’re not the only ones. Thanks for keeping it real!

(Maybe you’ve discussed it and I missed it or maybe you’ve intentionally kept it private, but do you have a scheduled c-section date for the bun? You seem to be pretty confident of his arrival tiemframe, and I’m wondering if that’s why. If you’re intentionally keeping that private, though, and don’t want to share, I totally understand.)

Yes, it’s scheduled for the middle of the month, although the doc does wonder if he’ll jump the gun so we’ll have to see. It would be amazing and much less of a panic if he just waits for my surgery date (due to the complications I had while in labor with Clara) so we’re hoping for that :)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing, and good luck! (I’m trying to determine for myself if I want a repeat c-section. Daughter was breech, so if this guy has a better sense of direction, I wouldn’t need surgery again…)

Julie – Go ahead and try for a VBAC if you can (if it will work for you and the baby). I had my first via emergency C-section because he was breech, and my second arrived via the usual route (after induction) and everything was absolutely fine(with both). Whatever works for a healthy momma and a healthy baby, right?

Finally painting my kitchen walls this week – I haven’t seen a clear countertop or table top for a week.
It’s been creative cooking/dining all week long.
Nothing like doing a project on a whim when I should be spring cleaning because we are having a family birthday party at our house THIS weekend!!
It made my heart sing to see your dining room, I don’t feel so alone anymore ;-}

We moved last weekend from a 1 bedroom NYC apartment to a small house but it feels gigantic. We’ve been keeping the living room “mess” free so that when the rest of the chaos gets overwhelming I can go sit in there and pretend the rest of my house is perfect.